Improving strawberry plant resilience to salinity and alkalinity through the use of diverse spectra of supplemental lighting.

BACKGROUND: This study explores the impact of various light spectra on the photosynthetic performance of strawberry plants subjected to salinity, alkalinity, and combined salinity/alkalinity stress. We employed supplemental lighting through Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) with specific wavelengths: monochromatic blue (460 nm), monochromatic red (660 nm), dichromatic blue/red (1:3 ratio), and white/yellow (400-700 nm), all at an intensity of 200 µmol m-2 S-1. Additionally, a control group (ambient light) without LED treatment was included in the study. The tested experimental variants were: optimal growth conditions (control), alkalinity (40 mM NaHCO3), salinity (80 mM NaCl), and a combination of salinity/alkalinity. RESULTS: The results revealed a notable decrease in photosynthetic efficiency under both salinity and alkalinity stresses, especially when these stresses were combined, in comparison to the no-stress condition. However, the application of supplemental lighting, particularly with the red and blue/red spectra, mitigated the adverse effects of stress. The imposed stress conditions had a detrimental impact on both gas exchange parameters and photosynthetic efficiency of the plants. In contrast, treatments involving blue, red, and blue/red light exhibited a beneficial effect on photosynthetic efficiency compared to other lighting conditions. Further analysis of JIP-test parameters confirmed that these specific light treatments significantly ameliorated the stress impacts. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the utilization of blue, red, and blue/red light spectra has the potential to enhance plant resilience in the face of salinity and alkalinity stresses. This discovery presents a promising strategy for cultivating plants in anticipation of future challenging environmental conditions.

Vapor-phase production of nanomaterials.

The synthesis of nanomaterials, with characteristic dimensions of 1 to 100 nm, is a key component of nanotechnology. Vapor-phase synthesis of nanomaterials has numerous advantages such as high product purity, high-throughput continuous operation, and scalability that have made it the dominant approach for the commercial synthesis of nanomaterials. At the same time, this class of methods has great potential for expanded use in research and development. Here, we present a broad review of progress in vapor-phase nanomaterial synthesis. We describe physically-based vapor-phase synthesis methods including inert gas condensation, spark discharge generation, and pulsed laser ablation; plasma processing methods including thermal- and non-thermal plasma processing; and chemically-based vapor-phase synthesis methods including chemical vapor condensation, flame-based aerosol synthesis, spray pyrolysis, and laser pyrolysis. In addition, we summarize the nanomaterials produced by each method, along with representative applications, and describe the synthesis of the most important materials produced by each method in greater detail.

Development of CMV-specific cytotoxic T cells (CMV-Tc) in pediatric renal transplant recipients with CMV viremia.

BACKGROUND: Viral infections are controlled primarily by viral-specific T cells, raising concern for adequate T-cell response to clear CMV infection in transplant recipients receiving lymphocyte-depleting agents (LDA). We examined the rates of CMV viremia and clearance, seroconversion, and CMV-specific CD8+ T cell (CMV-Tc) activity with class of induction agent received. METHODS: Retrospective review of 45 pediatric renal transplant recipients who received induction with LDA (n = 31) or non-LDA (NLDA; n = 14) received valganciclovir prophylaxis for 6 months post-transplant and CMV-PCR monitoring. CMV-Tc was measured by intracellular IFNγ flow cytometry, when possible, at baseline, 1 month after CMV viremia (>5 copies/PCR) and serially until CMV-Tc was positive (≥0.2%). RESULTS: Viremia rates at 1, 2, and 4 years post-transplant were higher in LDA vs. NLDA (46.3% vs. 7.2%, 64.2% vs. 7.2%, and 64.2% vs. 7.2%, respectively; p = .002). Viremia rates at these time points in seronegative LDA (50.3%, 71.6%, 71.6%) were significantly or near significantly higher than seronegative NLDA (9.1%, 9.1%, 9.1%; p = .004), seropositive-LDA (22.3%, 22.3%, 22.3%; p = .07), or seropositive NLDA (0%, 0%, 0%; p = .07). Eleven of 17 (64.7%) viremic subjects required valganciclovir dose reduction during the prophylaxis period for leukopenia. All viremic LDA patients developed CMV-Tc. One viremic NLDA patient did not develop CMV-Tc. No patients developed CMV disease. CONCLUSION: CMV seronegative pediatric renal transplant patients receiving LDA are more likely to have valganciclovir prophylaxis dose reduction and develop subclinical CMV viremia; however, all developed CMV-Tc. Larger prospective studies are needed to further understand the effects of induction agents on CMV-Tc and CMV-Tc's role post-transplant.

The Effect of Reality Therapy on Resilience and Self-Efficacy of Prisoners: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study.

This study aimed to determine the effect of reality therapy training on self-efficacy and resilience in male prisoners. To this end, a randomized controlled trial was conducted with a pre-test, post-test, and a control group. The research questionnaires including the Scherer self-efficacy questionnaire and the Connor-Davidson resilience questionnaire were administered to 300 prisoners. Of them, 78 prisoners who met the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. The intervention group attended ten 90-min sessions on reality therapy training per week. At the end of the training period, the study groups were required to attend the post-test. The data were analyzed with the SPSS software version 23 and through an independent t-test and a paired t-test. The results at the post-test phase showed a significant increase of self-efficacy and resilience in the experimental group, as compared to the control group (p < .01). Therefore, it is recommended for authorities to improve the self-efficacy and resilience of prisoners through reality therapy trainings.

GO nanoparticles mitigate the negative effects of salt and alkalinity stress by enhancing gas exchange and photosynthetic efficiency of strawberry plants.

Considering the potential use of nanomaterials, particularly carbon-based nanostructures, in agriculture, we conducted a study to investigate the effect of graphene oxide (GO) on strawberry plants under salinity and alkalinity stress conditions. We used GO concentrations of 0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 50 mg/L, and applied stress treatments at three levels: without stress, salinity (80 mM NaCl), and alkalinity (40 mM NaHCO3). Our results indicate that both salinity and alkalinity stress negatively impacted the gas exchange parameters of the strawberry plants. However, the application of GO significantly improved these parameters. Specifically, GO increased PI, Fv, Fm, and RE0/RC parameters, as well as chlorophyll and carotenoid contents in the plants. Moreover, the use of GO significantly increased the early yield and dry weight of leaves and roots. Therefore, it can be concluded that the application of GO can enhance the photosynthetic performance of strawberry plants, and improve their resistance to stress conditions.

The Effectiveness of Group-based Cognitive Hypnotherapy on the Psychological Well-being of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system mainly affecting young adults. In addition to physical problems, the patients suffer from many psychological problems affecting their psychological well-being. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of group-based cognitive hypnotherapy on the psychological well-being of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. This study was designed as a clinical trial with a pretest-posttest control group. From 60 patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis referred to Beheshti hospital in Yasuj, Iran, 45 patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected by the convenience sampling method. The patients were randomly assigned to intervention (23 individuals) and control (22 individuals) groups through stratified random allocation. After completing the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being, the intervention group attended eight sessions of group-based cognitive hypnotherapy on a weekly basis. The control group did not attend any intervention sessions. At the end of the eight intervention sessions, both groups completed the Ryff's Scale of Psychological Well-being again. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software (Version 23). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and two-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used in order to compare the groups. The results indicated that cognitive hypnotherapy had a significant effect on the total score of psychological well-being (F (45, 1) = 6.07, p = .018, η2 = 0.12) and the dimension of environmental mastery (p < .05). Therefore, it is recommended to use hypnotherapy to promote the psychological well-being of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Modelling and forecasting art movements with CGANs.

Conditional generative adversarial networks (CGANs) are a recent and popular method for generating samples from a probability distribution conditioned on latent information. The latent information often comes in the form of a discrete label from a small set. We propose a novel method for training CGANs which allows us to condition on a sequence of continuous latent distributions f (1), …, f (K). This training allows CGANs to generate samples from a sequence of distributions. We apply our method to paintings from a sequence of artistic movements, where each movement is considered to be its own distribution. Exploiting the temporal aspect of the data, a vector autoregressive (VAR) model is fitted to the means of the latent distributions that we learn, and used for one-step-ahead forecasting, to predict the latent distribution of a future art movement f (K+1). Realizations from this distribution can be used by the CGAN to generate 'future' paintings. In experiments, this novel methodology generates accurate predictions of the evolution of art. The training set consists of a large dataset of past paintings. While there is no agreement on exactly what current art period we find ourselves in, we test on plausible candidate sets of present art, and show that the mean distance to our predictions is small.

Construct and Psychometric Properties of a New Version Quality of Life Scale Based on Choice Theory.

BACKGROUND: Choice theory, as a psychopathological model, postulated five basics, genetically and universally, needs. Accordingly, the rate of everybody happiness and quality of life is depended on the number of his needs fulfilling. Although some scales have been constructed to assess basic needs, they have proposed unity of needs for all human. AIM: The present study was designed to construct a new scale, considering individualisation needs for each person; quality of life scale based on choice theory (QOLSCT). METHODS: Using cluster sampling, six hundred (49% female and 51% male) postgraduate students were selected. One hundred fifty participants also filled SF-36 and GHQ, and 80 participants refilled QOLSCT with four weeks' interval again. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha, split-half and test re-test (one month) reliability scores were 0.78, 0.75, and 0.92 successively. The correlation between items and total scores range from 0.36 to 0.72, all with P values ≥ 0.0001. Confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory values of goodness-of-fit indices, RMSEA, CFI, NFI and GFI were, 0.05, 0.99, 0.99 and 0.99 respectively. Convergent and divergent validity also showed significant correlations. CONCLUSION: The result of the present study showed that the new version of quality of life scale based on choice theory could be confirmed. The good level of reliability, fairly goodness of fit indexes, and very good convergent validity support this idea.

Can pediatric steroid-free renal transplantation improve growth and metabolic complications?

We analyzed the effects of a steroid avoidance protocol in pediatric renal transplant recipients on calculated CrCl (Schwartz), CMV infection, cholesterol, height Z scores, weight Z scores, and BMI Z scores in a case control trial with contemporaneous controls. From 1999 to 2004, 19 pediatric patients (age 1-20 yr) received transplants without steroids using immunosuppression with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and daclizumab. Control patients (n = 30) were matched for length of follow-up (minimum one yr), donor type age, type of immunosuppression, sex, date of transplant, and original disease, and CMV status. Graft survival at one year was 100% in both groups. Mean CrCl of steroid-free vs. control patients were not different at 1 year post-transplant. CMV disease was more prevalent in steroid-treated control group (seven of 30 patients) vs. the steroid free control group (zero of 19). Height delta Z scores at one year were NOT different between groups. Weight and BMI delta Z scores were significantly higher in the control group. Cholesterol levels at one year post-transplant were different in the two groups but NOT ABNORMALLY elevated in either group. At one yr post-transplant, steroid-free immunosuppression with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and daclizumab provides outcomes that are equivalent or superior to those in contemporaneous control patients receiving steroids.

The relationship between delivery mode and children's growth from birth to 6 months.

BACKGROUND: Children's growth is one of the important components of health affected by various environmental factors like delivery type. This study aimed at determining the relationship between delivery mode and children's growth from birth to 6 months. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, the growth indices were studied among 526 children (272 Natural Vaginal Deliveries (NVDs) and 254 Caesarean sections (C/S) who were only breastfed. The primary samples consisted of pregnant women referred to Yasuj and Gachsaran Hospitals and health centers in 2014-2015. Data were collected using questionnaires and health records. RESULTS: The results showed that there was no significant difference (p > .05) between the groups at birth, 2, 4 and 6 months in the mean (SD) of "weight, height and head circumference". CONCLUSIONS: Attention to growth trend in NVD group was better, this is better for mothers that were encouraged to choose physiological and vaginal delivery.

Emotional Processing In Patients with Ischemic Heart Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent public health problem on a worldwide scale, and ischemic heart disease accounts for approximately one-half of these events in high-income countries. One of the most important risk factors for this disease is mental and psychological especially stressful experiences. AIM: This research was established to compare emotional processing, as a key factor in stress appraisal, between IHD patients and people with no cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Using simple sampling, fifty patients were selected from people who diagnosed as IHD in the hospital and referred for treatment after discharging care and treatment. Control group participants were selected as control group peoples, using neighbourhood controls selection. The Emotional Processing Scale was filled by all members of the two groups. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups on the EPS-25 total scores, as well as on emotional processing dimensions of signs of unprocessed emotion, unregulated emotion; avoidance and impoverished. Also, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the dimension of Suppression. The final step of regression revealed a ß of 10.15 and 1.05 for AVO and IEE subscales respectively. CONCLUSION: The result showed that patients with IHD are using more negative emotional processing styles.

Experimental study and thermodynamic modeling for determining the effect of non-polar solvent (hexane)/polar solvent (methanol) ratio and moisture content on the lipid extraction efficiency from Chlorella vulgaris.

In this research, organic solvent composed of hexane and methanol was used for lipid extraction from dry and wet biomass of Chlorella vulgaris. The results indicated that lipid and fatty acid extraction yield was decreased by increasing the moisture content of biomass. However, the maximum extraction efficiency was attained by applying equivolume mixture of hexane and methanol for both dry and wet biomass. Thermodynamic modeling was employed to estimate the effect of hexane/methanol ratio and moisture content on fatty acid extraction yield. Hansen solubility parameter was used in adjusting the interaction parameters of the model, which led to decrease the number of tuning parameters from 6 to 2. The results indicated that the model can accurately estimate the fatty acid recovery with average absolute deviation percentage (AAD%) of 13.90% and 15.00% for the two cases of using 6 and 2 adjustable parameters, respectively.

Dental anxiety and the effectiveness of local anesthesia

Aim: The successful anesthesia is an essential factor for dental treatment. This study aimed at determining the effectiveness of local anesthesia and it's relationship with dental Anxiety. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 256 dental patients, in Gachsaran, Iran in 2017. Dental Anesthesia was administered after completing the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by the patients. The level of anesthesia was recorded in one of three states (successful, difficult, and failed). Collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and tests of, Chi-square, independent t-test, analysis of variance, and logistic regression model. Results: About 60.5% subjects had moderate-severe dental anxiety. The mean of dental anxiety significantly was lower in the successful anesthesia group (P<0.01). Patients with elementary education had a significantly higher level of dental anxiety (P<0.01). Dental anxiety was significantly higher in the age group of ≥59 years, compared to the other age groups, except for 49-58 years (P<0.05). Subjects with a significantly higher level of dental anxiety more delayed their visits to the dentist. The logistic regression model showed that the dental anxiety (high anxiety) and literacy level (elementary) were the most important predictors of failed or difficult anesthesia. Conclusion: Informing patients about dental treatment procedures, regular and periodic visits to the dentist, using psychotherapeutic techniques to reduce dental anxiety before anesthesia, could play an important role in the success of anesthesia

Effect of various carbon sources on biomass and lipid production of Chlorella vulgaris during nutrient sufficient and nitrogen starvation conditions.

In this research, a two-stage process consisting of cultivation in nutrient rich and nitrogen starvation conditions was employed to enhance lipid production in Chlorella vulgaris algal biomass. The effect of supplying different organic and inorganic carbon sources on cultivation behavior was investigated. During nutrient sufficient condition (stage I), the highest biomass productivity of 0.158±0.011g/L/d was achieved by using sodium bicarbonate followed by 0.130±0.013, 0.111±0.005 and 0.098±0.003g/L/d for sodium acetate, carbon dioxide and molasses, respectively. Cultivation under nitrogen starvation process (stage II) indicated that the lipid and fatty acid content increased continuously to a maximum value at day 2. Using carbon dioxide resulted in highest cell density, while using sodium acetate led to the highest fatty acid content. Molasses was not as effective as other carbon sources, but by taking into account its lower price, it can be considered as a suitable carbon source for algal lipid productivity.

The trend of national and sub-national burden of gastrointestinal and liver diseases in Iran 1990 to 2013; study protocol.

BACKGROUND: It is expected that gastrointestinal (GI) and liver diseases inflict considerable burden on health systems in Iran; therefore, highlighting the significance of GI disorders across the other most burdensome diseases requires comprehensive assessment and regular updates of the statistics of such diseases in Iran. OBJECTIVE: To assess in-depth sub-national estimates and trends for the incidence and prevalence of selected GI and liver diseases by age, gender and province over the period 1990 - 2013 in Iran. METHODS: This is a national and sub-national burden of disease study on 21 GI diseases using all available data sources, including cancer registry, death registration system data, hospital data, and all available published data. Analyses will be performed separately by gender, age groups, year, and province. We will conduct 21 separated systematic reviews of the literature for 21 diseases categories through searching online international electronic databases (i.e. the Medline database of the National Library of Medicine, Web of Science, and Scopus), Iranian search engines (i.e., IranMedex, Scientific Information Database (SID), and IRANDOC), and gray literature. We will search the medical literature published between January 1985 and December 2013. We generated two models, Spatio-temporal and Multilevel Autoregressive models, to estimate mean and uncertainty interval for the parameters of interest by gender, age, year, and province. The models will be informed by data of gender, age, year, and province. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods will be used to perform Bayesian inference in both modeling framework. All programs will be written in R statistical packages (version 3.0.1). RESULTS: We will calculate and present 1990 to 2013 trends in terms of prevalence, years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life years DALYs for the 21 selected GI diseases by gender, and province. We will also quantify the uncertainty interval for the estimates of interest. CONCLUSION: Results of the present study will have implications for policy making; as they allow for understanding geographic distributions of the selected GI diseases, and identifying health disparities across provinces.

Retrospective study of factors related to preterm labor in Yasuj, Iran.

INTRODUCTION: Premature labor is a serious worldwide problem that can cause neonatal death and other serious disorders. This study aimed to determine the most important factors related to preterm labor in Yasuj, Iran. METHOD: This case-control study was conducted in the maternity ward of Imam Sajjad Hospital, the obstetrics and gynecology center of Yasuj, in 2010. Among eligible samples, mothers with preterm labor were selected as the case group, and for each sample in the case group, one mother with full-term labor was selected by using clipper-matched sampling to make up the control group. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire. Finally, after deleting imperfect questionnaires, collected data of 52 subjects of case group and the same amount in control group were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 5400 live birth infants in Yasuj in 2010, 130 infants were premature (2.4%). The preterm labor risk in women with two or more pregnancies was 5.5 times more than women with less than two pregnancies, its risk in women with low general health status was 2.9 times more than in women with normal general health status, and the preterm labor risk in women with a history of diabetes mellitus/thyroid dysfunction/cardiac disease was 2.3 times more than healthy mothers (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: With respect to the above and due to the role and importance of mother-infant health in community health, it is necessary that the health-care system improve health education with regard to the appropriate number of pregnancies, diagnose and cure disease during pregnancy, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease (hypertension and/or eclampsia), and recognize pregnant mothers with mental pressure or lack of sufficient support and help them.